A New Zealand man who is in Syria fighting with Islamic State has been put on a US State Department list of terrorists.
Mark John Taylor poses a risk of carrying out a terrorist attack, the US says. Photo: Screenshot / 60 Minutes
Mark Taylor, formerly from Hamilton, has been named by the US as a specially designated global terrorist because they say he poses a significant risk of committing a terror attack.
American citizens are forbidden from having any dealings with him.
The State Department says Mark Taylor is thought to be in Raqqa where he has been fighting in Syria with Islamic State since 2014.
The US says he has used social media to encourage terrorist attacks in New Zealand and Australia and appeared in a IS propaganda video in 2015.
They say he now uses other names that include Mohammad Daniel, Abu Abdul Rahman, and Mark John al-Rahman.
Taylor is one of five men the State Department's named today as having committed or posing a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism
Taylor's name first came to prominence in 2011 when WikiLeaks named him as someone who had visited Yemen and had links to al Qaeda.
At the time the then Prime Minister John Key said he was aware of Mr Taylor, who was living in Hamilton under a number of restrictions, but that the public had nothing to fear from him.
